Reading POTD One of the world’s most amazing sailors was an unknown Inuit. About the year 1700, he went fishing off icy Greenland in a tiny, one-person

Reading POTD

One of the world’s most amazing sailors was an unknown Inuit. About the year 1700, he went fishing off icy Greenland in a tiny, one-person boat called a kayak and must have become lost in a fog or storm. Months later, he was rescued off Scotland- on the other side of the Atlantic.

The main idea of this paragraph is

a. Where Greenland is located

b. How many miles the Inuit traveled

c. Why the Inuit was amazing

d. What a kayak is

Monday, February 24, 2014

HWTonight you will read Pets to Threat and answer the questions

Core Review Author’s Purpose (PIE): Persuade, Inform, Entertain

Review Facts/Opinions

A fact is something that is true. Facts are something that you can prove to be true.

An opinion is something that you think or feel. Opinions are usually people's ideas or tell the way they feel about something.

Authors of informational text make points, or state ideas about a topic. They then use reasons and evidence (facts) to support these points. Using reasons and evidence as support helps authors prove their points to readers.

TW model lesson outlined on:

http://mhschool.com/lead_21/grade4/ccslh_g4_ri_2_3b_l1.html



Independent PracticeGuided notes: Authors of __________ text make points, or state __________ about a topic. They then use __________ and __________ to support these points. Using reasons and evidence as support helps authors __________ their points to readers.

Practice Read the passage below and answer the questions that follows.

Bring on the City Life

by Paula Edward

Are you thinking of moving to the East Coast? Does the idea of living in a big city appeal to you? Do you like great seafood? If you answered yes to these questions, there is a Middle Atlantic state you should consider.

Although Maryland is one of the smallest states in terms of land area, it is rich in opportunities and options. In Baltimore, the biggest city in the state, residents enjoy hundreds of exciting activities. Baltimoreans can catch a thrilling baseball game at Camden Yards, enjoy delicious Maryland blue crabs at an inviting eatery in the Inner Harbor, or visit one of the universities in the city. They can even stop by the zoo.

Baltimore also offers other educational and cultural pursuits. The National Aquarium is located there, and the city has many respected art museums. The state capital, Annapolis, is less than an hour away. It is home to the United States Naval Academy.

Give Maryland and its cities a try. You’ll find other places pale in comparison. Wait and see!

1. What is the author’s purpose of writing this passage?

2. In the first sentence of the second paragraph, the author makes the point that although Maryland is small, it is rich in opportunities and options. How does the author use reasons and evidence to support this point?

Vocabulary

TW introduce vocabulary words using the video Manny the Dog:

http://www.flocabulary.com/4-manny-the-dog/

SW complete the definitions for HW



Workshops

Writing: Students will compose first draft of

their writing.

Do you believe the school lunches are healthy? Why or Why not

OR

Do you believe all schools and all grades should have BYOT? Why or Why not

Students will plan using graphic organizer and then compose first draft.

www.polleverywhere.com

Reader’s Workshop:Students will complete: Theme Sort 8 Figurative Language Activity Study Island Pretest TW pull small group

Teacher will pull groups to review standard based on common assessments RL 4.7

Reading POTD

Elephants and whales weigh an enormous amount. So do the billions of people on Earth. Yet ninety percent of the living matter on our planet is made up of plants- not only trees, but grass, ivy, and moss.

The paragraph tells mainly

a. about the size of whales and elephants

b. about the weight of plant material

c. about how many people live on Earth

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

HW Go over answers from Pets

to Threat

Tonight’s HW From Pets to Threat form 3 opinions and support them with facts from the text.

1. It is a fact that Burmese pythons a. are hard to take care of. b. eat alligators as part of their normal diet. c. are originally from Asia. d. are from Florida. _____ 2. In Hardwick's opinion, a. Miami is an open-air zoo. b. his company catches at least one animal a week. c. pythons are not native to Florida. d. pythons are native to Florida. _____ 3. Zoonosis is a. a condition that affects the nose, ears, and throat of humans. b. a fever you catch at the zoo. c. a disease which is transferred from an animal to a person. d. the transfer of disease from the zoo to the nose. _____ 4. Some animals that this passage does not recommend as pets are a. pythons, prairie dogs and tigers. b. spiders, guinea pigs and monkeys. c. lizards, potbellied pigs and goats. d. horses, iguanas and hedgehogs. _____ 5. Is this a fact or opinion: “you should not have exotic animals as pets”? Support your answer.

Core: Imagine It!

Read Benjamin Banneker identify text features, author’s purpose, POV

TW will use guide to answer comprehension questions to check for understanding.

Independent Practice Complete a story pyramid:

Title

Author

Genre

Author’s Purpose

Point of View

Setting

Character Analysis (include evidence from the text)

20 word gist summary

Illustration with a caption

Vocabulary Go over definitions and use them in sentences

Vocabulary words: attentive / blossom / communicate / distress / meadow / peculiar / recognize / shabby / tidy / vacant

1. attentive (adj) Paying attention; thoughtful and polite. I like my dad; he’s very attentive to my needs.

2. blossom (noun)A flower. The blossoms on the apple tree were bright white.

(verb) 1. To make flowers. After many months, my plant finally blossomed.

2. To develop; to become better. Vlad’s painting skills blossomed as he got older.

3. communicate (verb) To make known; to give or exchange information. Thanks to computers and cell phones, there are now lots of different ways to communicate.

4. distress (noun) 1. Deep worry or suffering. Sharon felt a lot of distress over losing her pet ferret.

2. Being in danger or in trouble. The plane caught fire and was in distress.

(verb) To trouble or upset; to cause worry or stress. I’m distressed by how many people litter on the playground.

5. meadow (noun) A field of grass or wildflowers. The dog dreamed he was running through a meadow chasing hamburgers.

6. peculiar (adj) Not like the normal or usual; odd or curious. When Wendy said, “Hello, earthlings, Wendy am I,” we knew she had a peculiar way of speaking.

7. recognize (verb) To know and remember upon seeing. My older brother Mike had been gone so long at college I hardly recognized him.

8. shabby (adj) 1. Worn or faded from use or wear. Ms. Palmer was wearing a shabby coat that looked like it was 20 years old.

2. Not fair or generous. You took my Elf DVD without asking? That’s a shabby thing to do to a friend.

9. tidy (adj) Neat, clean, and in good order. My mom always says, “Keep your room tidy and your mind will be free.”

10. vacant (adj) Not used, filled, or lived in. There were no vacant seats on the train, so we had to stand all the way to the zoo.

Tonight’s HW: Synonyms and Connections

WorkshopsWriting Write a friendly letter in

response to the letter you received today at JABiztown.

WorkshopCommon Core Standard RL. 4.2

Students will complete :

Finish Theme Sort 8

Finish Figurative Language Activity

Study Island Pretest


Reading POTD

If all your family- parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins- got together, how many would there be? The Livingston family of New York State got together not long ago. Over four hundred people showed up. They came from as far away as Texas.

What is the main idea of this paragraph?

a. Where all the Livingstons live

b. Why the Livingstons got together

c. How big a family can be

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

HW Share your opinions from Pets to Threats and support them with facts

from the text.

Tonight’s HW: re-read Benjamin Banneker and answer comprehension questions at end of story

Core: Maya Lin TW guide students

through Biography: Maya Lin

1. Partner read the story and answer the questions

2. Students complete a character analysis using evidence from the text to come up with character traits.

3. Discuss answers to questions

Name: __________________________________________ Directions: Read the passage and answer the questions.

Maya Lin was born in 1959 in Ohio and was the daughter of college professors who had moved to the United States from China. Her father was an art professor and her mother taught poetry and literature. Maya always enjoyed the outdoors and was an excellent math student so she decided to major in architecture and sculpture when she went to Yale University. In 1981, while Maya Lin was a 21-year-old architecture student at Yale, she designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial as a class project and then entered it in a design competition, beating out the submissions of 1,420 other entrants. Her winning proposal for the Washington, D.C. Memorial was a V-shaped wall of black stone, etched with the names of 58,000 soldiers who had been killed in the war. At first, Lin's design was not widely accepted. Some veterans, as well as politicians, didn't care for the design, saying it didn't look like the other memorials in Washington, D.C. Some complained that it was placed so low to the ground that you couldn't see it from a distance. Others felt that the memorial's position on the low sloped path meant that the United States was ashamed of the veterans from that war. The Vietnam War had been unpopular with many people for many reasons. Sadly, soldiers who came home from the war were not always welcomed warmly. Sometimes the soldiers themselves were even blamed for the war but as time passed, more Americans decided that it was right to honor all soldiers who fought bravely for their country. As a result, the decision was made to create the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial. Since Lin's design was so controversial at the time, her name wasn't mentioned in the Memorial's dedication service. When the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial was completed in 1982, Lin became famous and was asked to work on many other projects, such as the Civil Rights Memorial in Alabama, which honors those who have fought and died in the struggle for equal rights. She also designed sculptures, parks, libraries and even museums and received numerous awards for her work. The controversy surrounding the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial is no longer an issue and this meaningful memorial is one of the most visited places in Washington, D.C. Today her powerful memorial continues to honor the soldiers who willingly gave their lives for others.

Biography: M aya L in

Independent Practice SW read historical Text: The Gold Rush and complete questions and

Diary entry activity.

Discuss answers as a class.

VocabularySynonyms: Circle the word on the right that matches the meaning of the word or phrase on the left. 1. worn out tidy shabby vacant 2. a grassy field blossom distress meadow 3. to talk distress recognize communicate 4. to know recognize tidy blossom 5. a flower meadow blossom distress Connections:Each sentence has a strong connection with one of the words from the unit. Write the correct word.

6. The lot at the end of my block is overgrown and unused.

7. I must say, it seems very strange that your dog knows how to read.

8. I listened closely to the song so I could memorize the words.

9. The tall, grassy field behind my house is a nice place to sit and watch the sunset.

10. My cactus is growing a flower! I didn’t even know it could do that!

***Tonight’s HW: The Amazing Helen Keller

WorkshopWriting Teacher will explain peer-edit

writing checklist.

Teacher will conference with students and provide support.

Workshop Students will complete :

Grade Level Passage : What Sounds Can An Elephant Make

Study Island pretest

Finish Opinion piece of Writing


Reading POTD

Rattlesnakes do most of their hunting at night. They do not locate their enemies by sight. They can tell just where the enemy is by the heat the enemy gives off. The snakes have a pair of organs that tell them the location of their warm-blooded enemies.


a. How rattlesnakes use their eyes

b. What rattlesnakes are like

c. How rattlesnakes locate their enemies at night

d. Where rattlesnakes hunt

Thursday, February 27, 2014

HW Discuss comprehension questions from

Benjamin Banneker

Tonight’s HW: From Benjamin Banneker write 2 opinions about Benjamin Banneker and support them with facts from the text.

Core: Scholastic News

TW introduce Scholastic News

http://sni.scholastic.com/SN4/02_17_14_SN4

In the article, how does the author support their ideas? What evidence is used?



Independent Practice

Students complete Quiz Whiz and Your Opinion Counts

Both will be taken for a grade, so do your best!

VocabularyThe Amazing Helen Keller

When Annie Sullivan arrived in Alabama, she did not know what to expect. She had been hired to teach a girl named Helen Keller. When Helen was 19 months old, she had come down with a peculiar disease. The disease left her unable to hear, see, or talk. Now, she was seven years old.

Ms. Sullivan’s job was to teach Helen how to communicate. As soon as she arrived, Ms. Sullivan got to work. She gave Helen a doll and taught her how to spell the word doll in sign language. Helen made the same motions with her fingers as Ms. Sullivan. But she did not yet recognize that she was making letters with her fingers.

Their first month together was filled with much distress. Helen behaved very badly. Her parents did not know how to control her, because they could not talk to her. No one even knew if Helen was smart enough to understand language.

One day, Helen and Ms. Sullivan got into a fight. Ms. Sullivan was trying to teach Helen the word water. Helen kept confusing the word mug with the word water. Finally, Ms. Sullivan took Helen outside to a water pump. As the water flowed over Helen’s hands, Ms. Sullivan spelled water again in sign language. Helen was very attentive. Then, she got excited: She finally understood! She spent the rest of the day learning the names of everything in her world.

After that day, Helen blossomed. She learned how to read Braille, which is a kind of writing for people who cannot see. But she didn’t just learn English; she also learned French, German, Greek, and Latin. She became the first deafand blind person to graduate from college. She became famous all around the world as a writer and a speaker. And just think: If it weren’t for Annie Sullivan, she might not have ever been given a chance to learn. 1. Why couldn’t Helen Keller hear, see, or talk? 2. What was the first word Ms. Sullivan tried to teach Helen? 3. Why didn’t Helen’s parents teach her how to behave? 4. Why did Helen get excited when she felt the water from the water pump? ***Quiz

tomorrow!!!

WorkshopWriting Teacher will explain to students

to make all corrections before publishing final draft.

Teacher will continue to conference with students.


Scholastic News : Life in 3D

Scholastic News: The Big Seize

Helping Verbs Activity


Reading POTD

What is the smallest town in the United States? Some people may say Lost Springs, Wyoming. The total population of Lost Springs is four, but there is a post office and a mayor.


a. Why the town is small

b. What the smallest town is

c. Where the smallest town is located

Friday, February 28, 2014

HW Share your opinions of Benjamin Banneker that is supported with

evidence form the text.

Tonight’s HW: Quiz tomorrow

Core: Assessments Vocabulary Quiz

Benjamin Banneker Quiz

Make sure you reference the text with accurate page and paragraph numbers

Did you answer all of the questions?

Do your answers make sense?

Workshops

Writing Teacher will explain to students

make all corrections before publishing final draft.

Teacher will explain that today is the last day to publish this prompt.


Text Structure Sort 9

Relative Pronouns Activity

Finish Opinion Piece of Writing

Study Island Pretest


Documents

Reading POTD One of the world’s most amazing sailors was an unknown Inuit. About the year 1700, he went fishing off icy Greenland in a tiny, one-person